World's Smallest Vehicles: Some Are Ugly, Some Are Cute, All Are Fondly Remembered

As today's economy continues to shake and stagger, most people find themselves in the "savings" and "fuel efficiency" mode when it comes to cars - and so the idea of small, easy to park and to maintain micro cars remains popular. Plus even from purely design and vintage collector's viewpoint, these cars can possess more cuteness and nostalgia factor than your favorite childhood toys. Just like a well-worn toy teddy bear, they are extremely cuddly and adorable.

Some of these models provoke immediate "love it" or "hate it" response... Enjoy this collection and do not miss Part 1 and Part 2 of this popular series.

Here is a microcar starring in one Soviet movie... and a green bubble car, blown to some frightening proportions:

(originals unknown)

Then there were micro cars, small concept cars and hot rods that defied characterization. Some of them were designed by George Barris (known as the King of Kustomizers), or Ed Roth, and looked like something from Hot Wheels back catalog:

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Very nice article, although I have to correct you on one thing, the NSU Prinz (and all NSU's for that matter) is from Germany. The company was founded in 1873 and produced knitting machines, bicycles and eventually cars. Some were quite advanced, the Wankel Spider you showed in the article was the first car to have a Wankel engine. In 1969 it was aquired by the Volkswagen Group to merge it with Auto Union and both companies (NSU and Auto Union) became Audi.

The green bubble car (http://lh3.ggpht.com/_hVOW2U7K4-M/TEjzoPxe7vI/AAAAAAABUb0/fU_MItQo4hY/s720/erhygtrdegtrrgt.jpg ) looks like some novelty product. If you look close you see that it resembles a Volkswagen Transporter T2 bay window van.

Compare with this.http://www.moto24.tv/jamnik/img/galeria/3198/vw_transporter_t2_1.jpg

Look at the details as the lights, wheelhubs and air intake under the window.

There were lots of small cars in Argentina in the ´60s. Even there was an amphibious one, the so called "autoneta" Ipam Leeds, made at the city of La Plata, and an electric prototype named Isabelita. Others were imported or licensed, like the NSU made by Autoar, or the Fuldamobil, known as Bambi, amongst many others (Joseso, Isetta, Heinkel, Messerschmitt).De Carlo´s larger models were based on the BMW.

The green car which another poster mentioned is a custom built car for an advert. The car was made to look like a "BirdsEye Garden Pea."You can see the video here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxg1pYIT64MThe explanation being that the "Pea" car is driving around the country but keeps falling apart and it reaches its destination as a mere body shell. A new frozen pea car is revealed from a Birds Eye refrigerated vehicle. The explanation is that fresh vegetables loose vitamins from the moment their picked, Birds Eye vegetables don’t because they are frozen to lock in their goodness.

More info on it here:http://www.tomgarner.co.uk/2005/10/update-more-on-birdseye-pea-car.html

You seem to have forgotten the Honda micro cars, the N360 and N600. With 2-cyl motorcycle engines the 600 wasn't too bad but the 360 was SLOW.Although the S-600 and S-800 sports cars aren't micro, they are tiny and have remarkable engines worthy of note.

The Soviet ZAZ 966 and 968 were not copies of the NSU Prinz, but rather both cars copied their lines from the 1960 Chevrolet Corvair. About the only thing they share in common is that they are all rear engine, rear wheel drive vehicles. All used a different engine configuration with the Corvair beign a flat six, the ZAZ having a V4 and the NSU having a inline twin or four, depending on the model and year. The ZAZ chassis has more in common with the VW type 1 than any of the other vehicles mentioned here.